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Although tolling has been used for millennia to pay for transportation improvements, the general public today remains wary since it often represents a drastic change from what they are used to. A big issue today in the transportation community is the policy discussion surrounding whether, how, when, and where to toll, and how to toll in a fair and equitable way. These policy discussions often involve the need to understand public attitudes, engage in public outreach, and educate elected officials, agency staff, stakeholders, and the general public about the facts surrounding tolling and pricing.
Tolling used to be straightforward – build a road with money from bonds, put up some toll booths, collect money for 30 years to pay down the bonds, and then remove the tolls. Today, tolling comes in many shapes and sizes, flavors, and variations. Many locations still have a basic need to build highway infrastructure, but the cost of road building has risen so much that there are very few projects left that can be funded 100 percent through toll revenue. This means that in addition to the basic question of “how much money can be financed through tolls,” there are issues of equitable revenue sharing formulas, and questions of double-taxation. Tolling is rarely welcomed, yet since there is little appetite to raise fuel taxes to pay for expensive new investments, it is often seen as a funding mechanism of last resort.
Collecting tolls no longer requires toll takers or even automated coin machines, yet outdated images of traffic jams at toll plazas linger in the mind of the public. Electronic toll collection technology means that tolls can be charged at full highway speeds in open-road conditions. These advances in technology allow tolls to be charged in individual lanes and on congested urban streets without causing the tie-ups that many people associate with toll collection.
The result has been exciting experiments around the world with road pricing, where tolls are seen not only as a revenue source, but as a way to optimize transportation system performance. Recent experiments with road pricing concepts in London and Stockholm involve charging drivers to enter or drive within a congested urban area. Both have successfully demonstrated the power of road pricing to optimize transportation system performance, and generate revenue that could be used to improve that system. Both also have battled initial public skepticism, followed by high levels of popularity once the drivers experienced what could be accomplished through these means.
Despite the successes overseas, these concepts may not necessarily be immediately transferable to the United States. With any change, there are winners and losers, and careful evaluation of all aspects of tolling and pricing projects is important so that public decision-makers can be well informed about complicated technical issues.
Additional information or source material about the issue available at these web sites:
Cambridge Systematics is assisting transportation agencies in making important decisions about how to use tolling as they improve their systems. The Comprehensive Tolling Study for Washington State guided the Transportation Commission’s efforts at providing policy advice to the legislature on whether, where, how and when to toll. We worked together to investigate issues related to equity and fairness, revenue generation, technology, administration and organization, and probed public attitudes. It was the first such comprehensive look at the role of tolling in transportation done in the U.S.
Express toll lanes have been successful in a few regions of the U.S., and Minnesota Department of Transportation wanted to understand how a system of these toll lanes might work in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan region. In the MnPASS System Study, Cambridge Systematics worked with a steering committee of elected officials and other stakeholders to explore the financial realities of toll lanes. The result was a memorandum of understanding that enabled Mn/DOT to consider toll lanes in all future highway expansions in the Twin Cities, but recognized that some level of public financial participation would be necessary.
CS also has conducted feasibility studies for traditional toll roads, such as a proposed Outer Loop in Montgomery, Alabama; evaluations of truck-only toll lanes in southern California and Georgia; and the technology of cordon tolling in New York City.
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